This invention relates to a system for capturing and subsequently distributing continuous signal.
Sporting events, such as games of football or basketball, are typically captured by cameras that are used to produce video recordings of the event. The events may also be annotated, for example, with xe2x80x9cplay-by-playxe2x80x9d annotations collected by an observer of the event. The video recordings are distributed to a number of remote sites, for example over private or public television broadcast systems, or on physical media, such as magnetic tapes (e.g., Betacam-SP format). The annotations are also sent to the remote sites, for example, as text printed on paper. At the remote sites, the video recordings are processed to access particular segments of the recordings, such as segments corresponding to plays in a football game. For example, the video recordings are inputted to a video processing system, such as a SportsPro system from Avid Sports, LLC, or Lowell, Massachusetts. In that system, the time intervals of individual segments of the video recordings are manually identified by an operator of the system optionally using the printed annotations as a guide. The operator can also add further annotations corresponding to the time segments in order to allow subsequent access based on the annotations. When the time segments correspond to plays in a game, the received annotations may identify the team and the type of play, while the players involved in each play may be added by the operator at the remote site. This allows the operator to access time segments that, for example, have plays involving a particular player. In the SportsPro system, the operator can also input data about events in a game according to a format defined by Information and Display Systems, Inc. In that format, each event is associated with a time such that the relative time between events can be determined. The operator manually aligns the events with the video recordings, and the information about the events can be associated with the time segments within which the events occur.
In several professional sports leagues, the teams that participate in an event receive the video recordings and the annotations of that event. The teams are then responsible for providing a processed version of the recordings to subsequent opponents prior to the games with those opponents to facilitate their preparation for those games. For instance, a team may be required to provide processed video recordings of a game to their opponents in each of their next two games. The processing may include concatenating video from multiple cameras, which had different points of view (camera angles), for each play of the game to form a new video recording, and providing new annotations that correspond to the processed video recording. When a team receives video recordings and annotations from an upcoming opponent, it also inputs the video into a video processing system and uses the annotations to manually find segments of the video recordings, which correspond to individual plays.
In a general aspect, the invention is a system that relates annotations captured at an event and continuous signal recordings, such as video recordings, of the event in such as way that once the recordings and annotations are distributed to a remote site, an operator does not have to manually identify the time intervals of individual segments that are identified in the annotations. Prior to distribution to the remote sites, the annotations that are collected for the event are processed to identify a series of time segments, including a time interval of the signal recordings. The time reference for these identified time intervals is based on the signal recordings themselves, for example, being relative to a time reference marks that are introduced into the video recordings before they are distributed to the remote site, or being based on an recorded time signal. At the remote sites, the time references for the video recordings are determined, for example by locating the time reference marks, and the distributed annotations are used to automatically segment the video recordings.
In one aspect, in general, the invention is a method for capturing and distributing video information. The method includes accepting a video signal, identifying a time reference for the video signal, and segmenting the video signal into multiple video segments, including forming multiple time interval records each identifying a time interval relative to the time reference for each video segment. The method further includes accepting an annotation signal associated with the video signal and processing the annotation signal to form multiple annotation segments, each annotation segment corresponding to a time interval. The method also includes matching the annotation segments to the video segments, including updating the annotation segments using the time interval records of corresponding video segments. The video signal and the annotation segments are then distributed, for example over broadcast or network channels, or using physical media.
The method can include one or more of the following features:
Identifying a time reference for the video signal includes accepting a time signal, such as a SMTPE signal, in conjunction with the video signal and identifying a time value in the time signal to determine the time reference, and distributing the video signal includes distributing the time signal in conjunction with the video signal.
Identifying a time reference for the video signal includes selecting a point in the video signal using the images encoded in the video signal.
The method further includes marking the time reference in the images encoded in the accepted video signal, for example by replacing image frames in the video signal with predefined marking images.
Segmenting the video signal include identifying boundary times of the time intervals using images encoded in the video signal.
The method further includes receiving a data signal and segmenting the video signal includes identifying boundary times of the time intervals using the received data signal.
Processing the annotation signal includes identifying time boundaries of the annotation segments.
Processing the annotation signal includes forming descriptive information for each annotation segment from the annotation signal.
Accepting the annotation signal includes receiving text data encoding annotation information, and processing the annotation signal includes parsing the text data to identify the annotation segments.
Accepting the annotation signal includes receiving a speech signal and processing the annotation signal includes automatically recognizing the received speech signal.
The method further includes receiving a data signal and forming the annotation segments further includes processing the data signal to determine the time intervals of the annotation segments.
Matching the annotation segments to the video segments includes associating time intervals of the video segments with time intervals of the annotation segments.
Updating the annotation segments includes updating the boundary times of the annotation segments using the time boundaries of associated video segments.
The method can further include accepting the distributed video signal and accepting the distributed annotation segments, and identifying the time reference for the accepted video signal. The then further includes selecting one or more annotation segments and accessing video segments corresponding to the selected annotation segments.
The method can further include accepting a time signal in conjunction with the video signal and identifying the time reference for the accepted video signal includes identifying a reference time in the time signal.
Identifying the time reference for the accepted video signal includes locating a time reference marked in images encoded in the video signals.
Selecting the annotation segments includes accepting a query and matching the query with descriptive information associated with each of the annotation segments.
Distributing the annotation segments include sending the annotation segments to a server computer and accepting the annotation segments includes retrieving the annotation segments over a data network from the server computer.
The method can further include forming a second video signal from the accessed video segments and distributing the second video signal and the selected annotation segments.
In another aspect, in general, the invention is a system for capturing and distributing video information. The system includes a video processor for accepting a video signal and for segmenting the video signal into a plurality of video segments, an annotation processor for accepting an annotation signal associated with the video signal and for forming a plurality of annotation segments, and a segment matcher of associating time intervals associated with the video segments and time intervals associated with the annotation segments.
The annotation signal can include text data and the annotation processor then includes a parser for processing the text data to form the annotation segments.
In another aspect, in general, the invention is a system for processing video data. The system includes a signal storage for storing an accepting video signal, an annotation storage for storing accepted annotation data; and a synchronizer for associating a common reference time between the stored video signal and time intervals identified in the annotation data.
The system can further include a content selector coupled to the annotation storage and the video storage for accepting a query and selecting a plurality of time intervals of the stored video signal using descriptive information stored in the annotation storage for those time intervals.
Aspects of the invention have an advantage of not requiring each recipient of the video recordings and annotations to perform manual segmentation of the video recordings. Also, the video recordings can be distributed in a variety of ways, for example as television broadcasts or on magnetic tapes, and the annotations can be distributed independently of the video recordings. By using standard methods of video distribution, which typically do not have a provision for synchronized timing or annotation data, remote sites are able to access the video recordings using various alternative video processing systems that are not necessarily tied to a particular enhanced format that includes both the annotations and the video recordings.
Video data can be sent over a separate channel than annotation data related to the video signal. This has the advantage that the video data can be sent over a high capacity channel, such as a satellite channel, or using a standard interchange format. Also the invention has the advantage that the video data can be sent over a channel that does not have the capability of concurrently sending a time signal while still being able to resynchronize the annotations and video data.
Other features and advantages are apparent from the following description and from the claims.